Postcards from Kronk - the second collection of daily stories. (2025)

He found himself unexpectedly in the wrong life, all the decisions he'd meant to take had been made for him and happenchance hadn't been kind. This journey is the first step towards his new life, although he hasn't a clue what it will be the excitement pushes the blood round his body so fast he feels light headed. Leaving the lounge he jumps up the steps to the deck in two leaps and crashes head first into a woman struggling to pull a suitcase on wobbly wheels. She looks up and he drowns in her smile. So this is how it feels he thinks before the waters close over him.

He couldn't concentrate, the child wouldn't stop talking. "my mums got cola cola, I've got lemonade'. Jerry had snuck into the pub hoping for a quiet spot to try to work things out. Old Terry had called and confirmed the 19th case of electrocution, he doubted they'd carry on checking for much longer, the bodies were piling up now. People were leaving the village, rumours were running wild from the end of the world to a terrorist attack. All he knew was people were dropping dead, one a day, all apparently electrocuted but no obvious explanation or link between the cases. Martha and the muffins played on the radio, "echo beach far away in time, echo beach far away in time". " I'm water now ", the child was back, " I can stop the current ".

Carlos cleaned the last speck of burnt umber from his brush and stepped back to see the final canvas. His last gasp collection of paintings had come to their own final ending; the months since  McChrystals acquittal proving there is such a thing as bad publicity, the initial notoriety turning quickly to a sense of contamination. He studied the blood congealed around her nose, hints of cerulean blue where the bruising was building and smiled, it was a fine way to bow out.

The pen weighed heavy in his hand, tomorrow is Valentines day, their first together and she'll be expecting something special from him. Adam stared at the paper set out before him and cursed having an ugly girlfriend and a naturalistic writing style.

La had been gone for too long. I wanted to do something but there was nothing to do. 'wait here, if I don't come back head to the flat and I will find you' Some things are bigger than they appear when you first encounter them, like opening a Russian doll in reverse, each revelation bigger than the last. I was scared for the first time since we'd found out the plan and now I was alone. What if she never came back,  would I be able to go back to to the life I used to have which seemed plastically sealed now ? La had been my guide although I hadn't realised it till now. I checked the window again, they were beginning to leave, I just had to believe. Today my life had taken a unexpected turn but it was no accident. This would be the best day of my life.

Mary gave herself up completely, to be one with the lord meant certain sacrifices were necessary, he wouldn't understand, he'd refused to listen so let him rot. She'd walk out of the church reborn, her whole life ahead of her.

And sad news just coming in, a man has died after falling off a cliff. Peter Clarke, 31, part time surgeon is believed to have been dressed as Wile E Coyote when he fell to his death apparently attempting to run over a canyon in southern Essex. Witness reports vary, some say he ran too slow whilst others claim he simply looked down to find himself unexpectedly in mid air. A second man described as wearing yellow tights and sporting a blue quiff reportedly disappeared into a painted black hole on the side of a removals truck near the scene. Flowers are being left on the grand piano, anvil and giant boulder that fell one at a time onto the flattened body of Mr Clarke.